Mon­soon likely to be nor­mal at 97%: IMD

Bear­ing good news for the farm sec­tor, the In­dia Me­te­o­ro­log­i­cal De­part­ment on Mon­day fore­cast a “nor­mal” mon­soon this year and said there is a “very less pos­si­bil­ity” of a de­fi­cient mon­soon.

Though IMD pegged the sea­son’s rain­fall in the lower end of the nor­mal range, at 97% of the long pe­riod av­er­age, its pre­dic­tion is close to pri­vate fore­caster Skymet’s mon­soon out­look. TOI had re­ported on March 26 the pos­si­bil­ity of a nor­mal mon­soon fore­cast, based on IMD’s El Nino-La Nina out­look. The pre­dic­tion will spell re­lief for the govern­ment ahead of the 2019 polls, with the Cen­tre un­der pres­sure to re­spond to farm dis­tress. P7 & 14